Fire-escape or life-saving towkr



e, GULICH.

FIRE ESCAPE OR'LIFE SAV| NG TOWER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21,1919.

1,348,872. Patented Aug- 10,1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR Bf 2 v I ATTORNEY inn "HI" G. GULICH.

FIRE ESCAPE UR LIFE SAVING TOWER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21,1919.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JMI M IN VE N TOR I G. GULICH.

- FIRE ESCAPE 0R LIFE SAVING TOWER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21, I919. 1,48,872. Patented Aug. 10, 1920,

. 7 EEEEEEEEEEEE 3.

i (5 I Q I" A TTORNEY G. GULICH.

FIRE ESCAPE 0 R LIFE SAVING TOWER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2], I919.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920,

7 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

,IIIIIIIIIIIIIII'" IIIIIIIIIIIIIHIII I l/WENTOR ATTORNEY G. GULICH.

FIRE ESCAPE 0R LIFE SAVING TOWER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21.1-919. 1,348,872. Patented Aug. 10, 1920,

A TTORNE G. GULICH.

FIRE ESCAPE UR LIFE SAVING TOWER.

APPLICATION FAILED JULY 21,1919.

Patented Aug- 10, 1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

A ORNEY G. GULICH.

FIRE ESCAPE 0R LIFE SAVING TOWER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 2!, I919. 1,348,87 2. Patented A g- 10, 1920 7 SHEETSSHEET 7.

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ablin'g canoe-a eumcn, or saw tour, is. x. mnscmon mssvme rowm.

' Application. filed July 21,

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Gannon GUuoH ac1t1- zen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Esca or Life-SavingTowers, of which the i0 owing is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvementsin fire-escapes, and more particularly to devices of this type which are portable.

' The main object of the invention is to pro vide a fire-esca mounted upon a truck and in the form 0 a collapsible tower, having platforms which are adapted to be extended to the windows of a building, thereby enrsons to esca e from the latter.

Anot er object of t e invention is to so construct a fire-escape that it may be conveniently extended to any desired height and also readily collapsed for transportation.

A further object of. the invention is to so construct the fire-escape that it serves at the same time as a fire-fighting apparatus, it being provided with a plurality of fire hose, each made of as many sections as there are sections provided in the collapsible tower.

A stillfurther object of the invention is to provide. a device of the character descri ed, which is simple in construction, efiicient in operation, and which can be conveniently put in place, when needed.

With these and other objects in view, which will more fully appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the combination, arrangement and construction of parts hereinafter described ointed out in the appended claim and 1 ustrated in the accompanying drawings, it being understood that many changes may be made in the size and proportion of the several parts and details of construction within the scope of the a pended claimwithout departing from t e spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of w the invention.

One of the many possible embodiments of Y the invention is illustrated in an, drawin in which p 1 is a side elevation of a fire-escape constructed in accordance with he present invention, the same being shown inits ex tended position; Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of '1, showing mainly the sevthe accomeral sections o the fire escape, parts of the 1919. Serial I0. 812,887.

v actuating apparatus being omitted so as not to obscure the drawing; Fig." 3 is a horizontal section, on a larger scale, taken through the truck rtion of the fire escape, showing the actuating mechanism; Fi 4 is a section taken on line 44 of Fig. 3; ig. 5 is a section taken on line 55 of Fig.3; Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken through the innermost and the next one in the series of the'telescoping sections of the tower, showing one of the platforms in its extended position and the other one in its folded position; Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 7--'i' of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a side elevation, partly in section,

of a mechanism for holding adjoining teletaining the machinery for extending and 'also collapsing the telescoping sections of the tower of the fir -escape, as. will hereinafi r appear. It h uses also a plurality of ree s 11', on which are wound fire-hose, for use from the street level. To the top of the body 11 is fixed the outermost section 12 of the tower, also, preferably, box-shaped and provided in its walls with window-openings 13, to admit light and air. Access may be had to the fixed section 12 by means of a ladder 14, that is mounted upon the truck body .11 and leads from the ground to the section 12. Into the tower section 12 are adapted to telescope the movable sections of the tower, denoted in their, order by the numerals 15, 16, 17 and .18. Each of these sections is box-shaped, being closed at its lower end by a bottom 19, but open at its upper end, so as to receive the next section in the series. Each of the movable sections is provided with window-openings 20, for

I medication 011mm h Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

- drawings.

24, which are journaled in bearin 25, rising from base lates 26. The s eaves 22 are disposed int e four corners of the tower sections, so that an even pull may be exerted'on the movable sections, in raising the same. The four shafts 24 are disposed in two groups, one in the front portion of the truck body 11 and one in the rear portion thereof, theshafts of each group being disposed parallel to each other and in alinement with the respective shafts of the other group, as clearly appears from Fig. 3 of the The four drums nearest to the transverse center line of the truck body 11 are associated with the section 18 of the tower, so that, when these four drums are turned simultaneously in the proper directions, the section .18 will be raised in rela-,

tion to the section 17. The next four drums are associated with the next section of the series, and so on. To each drum is fixed a gear 27, the two gears on the two front drums of a given tower section bein in alinement, and so also the two gears o the rear drums of the said section. Parallel with the shafts 24 and between the. two groups thereof is disposed a shaft 28,.suitably journaled in bearings 29, that rise from the base mentioned shaft is provided with two longitudinal key-ways 30, in which are seated keys 31 on two gears 32, that'are adapted to mesh with the gears 27 above mentioned. The shaft 28 receives motion from the engine of the truck, it being provided for this purpose, for instance, with a gear 33, that is adapted to mesh with a gear 34 one shaft 35, the latter being suitably connected with the engine shaft. The

gear 34 is shiftable upon the shaft 35, and thus adapted to be brought'into and out of mesh wlth the gear 33. With the gears 32 is associated a shifting mechanism, comprising, for instance, a pinion 36, meshing with toothed racks 37, upon which are mounted fork-shaped members 38, the latter being in engagement with the gears 32. The racks are shiftable in guides 39 parallel to and in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the shaft 28, and so arranged in relation to the inion 36 that, in turning the latter, the rac are shifted in opposite directions. In this manner the gears 32 are adapted to be simultaneously engaged with or disengaged from, as the case maybe, the four gears 27 of a given set of drums 23.

In order to hold the telescoping tower sections in their extended positions, there are associated with each movable section four dogs 40, arranged in pairs, said dogs being plvoted at 41 adjacent the lower ends of the said sections and carrying at their free ends rollers 42. These rollers are adapted to enter recesses 43 in the top of the next section in the series. Each set of plates 26. i This last-.

ea ers ing arms 49, connected by links 50 with the dogs 40. When the actuating lever 44 is shifted in one direction, the two dogs 40, associated therewith, are simultaneously seated in the recesses 43 of the next section in the series, and when shifted in the other direction they are un'seated therefrom.

To the tower section 18 are hinged twp platforms 51, more particularl to the longtudinal sidewalls thereof. ach of these platforms is made of a lurality of sections, denoted in their order y the numerals 52, 53 and 54. These sections are adapted to slide one into another, the section 52 being hinged to the respective side wall of the tower, the entire platform, when collapsed and turfied around its hin into vertical position, closing a 'dpor opening 55 in the said wall. Each platform section is provided along its longitudinal edges with railings 156, which are adapted to be folded onto the -tion. -When the platform sections are extended, the springs are put under tension, winding up the cables when the platform sections are slid one within the other and swung around the hinge into vertical position.

For collapsing the platform, there is fixed to the section 54 thereof a cable 61', the other end of which is secured to a drum 62 within the tower section 18. By winding this cable upon the said drum, first the section 54 slides\ into the section 53, and then both sections into the section 52.

In order to extend the platform, a cable 63 is attached at 64 to the section 54, and at 65 to the section 53. This cable is also fixed to a drum 66, the latter being disposed w1th in the tower section-18. W en the cable 63 is wound upon the drum 66, it causes the sections 54.and 53 to move out of the platform section 52.

The fire hose on the reels 11' in the truck body 11 may be connected with fire hose, that lead to the top section 18, when the us I tower is in its extended position. For this purpose there are hose couplin 67 provided in the bottom of each mova 1e section, more articularly in the four corners thereof, w ich are adiipted to. be connected by hose sections 68. v ose sections 69 lead from the towersection 18, and to these sections are attached the usual nozzles.

; In order to permit the ascent to and descent from the movable tower sections, when the latter are in their extended positions there are fixed to the tower sections 12 and 15 .to 17 5 inclusive, ladders 70. These lad- ;ders are attached to the bottoms of the said sections and lead each to an opening 71 in the bottom of the next section in the series.

. The ladders are staggered and decrease in width from the section 17 to the section 12,

I thereby permitting the ladders to be nested when the tower sections are telescoped, as

clearly appears from Fig. 9 of the drawings.

of its height, is thus in no way enlarged, so

that it.can be drawn through the streets without interfering with the trafiic.

When the fire-escape is to be put to use,

it is brought, ad'acent-the curb, in parallel relation to t e burning building. In order to extend the tower, rst the pinion 36 is rotated in the proper direction so as to bring the gears 32 on the shaft 28 in mesh with the gears 27 on those drums which are disposed nearest to the transverse center line of the truck body 11. R0- tation is then imparted to the shaft 28 by bringing the gear 34 on the shaft 35 into mesh with the gear 33 on the shaft 28. In this manner the innermost tower section, denoted b the numeral 18, is raised. When fully raised, its dogs 40 are brought in alinement with the recesses 43 .in the tower secuntil the tower section 18 is brought to the roper height, the

proper level. When this section is at its pl'atform 51, adjacent the uildin 1s broug t into horizontal position an the drum 66 turned in the proper d-irectionuntil the. outermost section 54 of the said platform is brought to rest on a window-frame on the building (Fig. 2). The railings 56 on the platform sections are then brought to their extended positions, whereby a proper brid e is formed, on which persons may leave the urning building and enter the tower section 18, descending on the ladders 70 to the stationary tower section 12, and leaving the latter on the ladder. 14. The hose sections 68 are then connected with the hose on the reels 11' in the truck body, and the last-mentioned hose connected to the fire-apparatus. The hose sections 69 are then directed against the burning building, the firemen stepping onto the extended platform or remaining with in the tower section 18, as required.

- In order to. telesco e the tower, obviously the operations described for extending the same must be performed in the reverse order. It is obvious that, both in raising and lowering the tower sections, the shaft 28 is disconnected from the shaft'35 every time that the gears 32 are shifted into engagement with or disengaged from a given set of gears 27. A disengagement of the gears 33 and 34 must also take place every time that atower sectlon is brought to a height in which its dogs 40 register with the recesses 43 in the next section of the series.

From the foregoing it appears that the device herein described constitutes an eiii- 'cient, combined life-saving apparatus and fire-fighting device.

What I claim is :-g L A portable fire-escape comprising a truck, a tower thereon made of a p urality of boxshaped sections, each section being provided with a bottom but open at its u per end, one section of said tower being ed to said truck and the others being adapted to telescope into. said fixed section, means for raising said movable sections in succession in relation .to said stationary section, each of said bottoms but that of the outer-most section being provided with an opening,

said openings being in alinement, a ladder secured to each movable section but the outer-most section, said ladders being fixed to the respective bottoms of said sections and slanting from the top of the octive section to its bottom in alinement with the opening in the bottom of the next section, said ladders being of difierent widths and staggered in relation to each other, thereby permitting the same to be nested when said tower is telescoped.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York, and State of New York, this 14th day of July, A. D. 1919.

GREGOR euLIcH. 

